Emergency Custody Order by Jen Rouse

What if we issue one

for our planet—perhaps—

like taking on hemispheres

of an ill brain—

ok, maybe you think

no one’s going to commit

to that completely.

In time.

You see, like

wild rollercoaster

tunnels and tight

synapses, the channels

of our disaster

require very special

specialists. Some things tiny

as snails

sewing and sifting

and making small repairs.

How we must place

the order at night

in an alley

where the matter

of mind and space

meet and turn aurora,

across the bay

where the lull of loon

cry echoes the moment

: archive and listen.

I am your frozen myelin orbit.

I am your hollowed earth skull.

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Jen Rouse (she/her) is the Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Cornell College. Her work has appeared in SWWIM, Pithead Chapel, Cleaver, Always Crashing, Mississippi Review, and elsewhere. Headmistress Press has published her books Acid and Tender, CAKE, and Riding with Anne Sexton. Find her on Twitter @jrouse